Song reviews

Not short of eighties retro charm, Los Angeles band The Electric West max out the mood for their downbeat song “No Fangs”. This may be the sound of the past but this band make it worth revisiting.

Whilst being a right down the line commercial pop song, “Easy” also shows that Kid Cupid have their finger on the minimalist pulse and that should make this song as suitable for coffee shop fashionistas as it is for the radio.

“Chance” has that late seventies jazz rock feel and the downbeat vocals fit right into that era too. It is undoubtedly a fashionably retro sound but a classy one that should make many new friends for JonoJosh.

A song to set you on a voyage into melancholy, “Machined” has, nonetheless, more soul and style than you might reasonably expect and that, to my ears at least, marks Jaunt out as a band of maturity.

An oddly appealing song with the laidback electropop sound nicely complimenting the lyrical dislocation, “Hotels” demonstrates that Jade The Moon can make even the trivialities of life seem poetic.

New Lingo, on the evidence of “Witch Hunt”, seem to be pitching a rambling version of indie rock as their way forward to fame. The impassioned lead vocals make a positive impression but the song itself is strictly by the numbers.

“Three of Swords” is, in the best rock tradition, a song about a girl with enough big guitar riffs thrown into the mix to make Shuckster seem more muscular and modern than most.

Katie Herzig neatly demonstrates her mastery of modern day electro pop with her song “Feel Alive” soaring high above her many competitors. She’s not retro and that’s a very good thing indeed and “Feel Alive” deserves a wider audience than the IPod generation.

Jess and The Ancient Ones sound like a band that knows how to have fun and “Minotaure” has a sixties psych rock groove providing sterling support to the dramatic lead vocals thus keeping the song, in today’s terms at least, on the offbeat side of the fence.

They say that some things improve with age and certainly Andy Lampert’s song “Warsaw” is an example of that with a rather clumsy start giving way to a rather pleasing retake of the seventies glam rock sound. Chopping the song to three minutes would probably make it special.

Taking a rather more intellectual approach are Brooklyn’s Fovea proving themselves unafraid of complexity as they meander through their song “Cost Of” and duly providing the curious with something to ponder and, indeed, savour.

Now this one works! “The Way That I Feel” is propelled forward by a retro electropop engine and features lyrics that are little more than a chant yet such is the energy generated by GGOOLLDD that you can’t help but sing along.